Writing in a personal capacity to share views, information and resources for teachers, trade unionists and campaigners in London - and beyond!

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

November's national action hanging in the balance?

After the
well-supported joint NUT/NASUWT regional strikes, teachers are now awaiting
news from their unions about what follows next. A commitment had been made that
the regional action would be followed by a joint national one-day strike before
Christmas. However, when the NUT Executive meets on Friday, it is not clear
whether a strike date in November will be confirmed or whether the
recommendation will be to postpone that action.

Although discussions
are reportedly still continuing between the NUT and NASUWT, there are worrying
rumours circulating that the NASUWT might not be willing to proceed with the joint
action this term.

Nothing is
yet certain but, if this proves to be the case, any such back-pedalling would
be a bitter disappointment to all those who gave up a day’s pay to strike and
demonstrate in such determined fashion on October 17, and in the two previous
regional strikes. The possibility that the national action might now be
postponed until sometime in the New Year was met with stunned anger by a
meeting of Lewisham NUT reps this week. “Incandescent” was how one very typical
primary school rep described her feelings. That anger should not be underestimated.

Any
postponement would risk signalling to teachers and ministers alike that unions
lack confidence and are backing away from their announced plan of action. There is no need to lack confidence. The
energy and anger at all the rallies last Thursday showed that there would be
clear support from teachers for a clear plan of continuing strike action.

If this
rumour is confirmed when the NUT Executive meets on Friday, then, as Alex
Kenny, the other NUT Executive member for Inner London has put it in an email
to our Local Associations “In broad terms the NUT Executive may have to decide
between calling a national strike without the NASUWT this term or
agreeing to a strike at a later date with the NASUWT”.

If we are
left with these choices on Friday, then clearly neither option is the choice
that we would have wanted to have been making. However, unless the NASUWT and
NUT are able to give notice now for an agreed and specific joint strike date in
January, then I believe that the NUT Executive has no choice but to go ahead
with giving notice for our own national strike at the end of November.

We should
announce our strike date and also immediately approach other unions like the
CWU, FBU, PCS and UCU to discuss whether they would co-ordinate strike action
on the same date. For teachers, such co-ordination, if it could be agreed,
would not be as concrete as co-ordination with the NASUWT, but would help to
strengthen the action, the publicity, and the pressure on the Government.

If we
delayed, what justification could we give for our decision? Some may be hoping that we might be given the
offer of ‘talks’ by Gove and could sell this as a gain that we have won. But
Gove has always said that he is prepared to offer talks, but talks on the basis
that his ‘policy direction’ on pay and pensions is ‘fixed’. What can we expect to win out of ‘talks’
based on Gove’s fixed parameters? Firm national strike action this year - with
the threat of more to follow in 2014 - is what is required to force Gove into
serious negotiations.

If Gove
wants to play at offering ‘talks’ to try and wrong-foot union opposition, then
we should accept his offer but make clear that our strike goes ahead unless
those talks lead to Gove conceding to our demands on pay, pensions and
conditions. This would allow us to go into those talks from a position of
strength, not from a position of weakness.

Some are
arguing that it might be better to delay action until after the Review Body has
reported on conditions at some point in the New Year. Firstly, this hands
timescales over to Gove and the Review Body who are notorious for delaying the
announcement of their decisions. They
could simply delay while the unions’ campaign loses vital momentum.

Secondly, it
means abandoning the strategy that has been correctly followed up to now – of
putting maximum pressure on the Review Body BEFORE it makes a decision. If that
pressure still fails to convince the Review Body to pull back on suggested
attacks on directed hours, holidays and other working conditions, then we should
step up our action in the New Year. Delaying now would only encourage Gove and
the Review Body to maintain their attacks.

So, the only
argument that could be made, but undoubtedly one that would be strongly made,
is that we have to postpone our action to maintain a united front with the
NASUWT.

There’s no
doubt that taking action alongside the NASUWT has strengthened the impact of
our action and boosted the effect of the strikes, especially in areas where the
NASUWT has a larger base of support. Having to strike without the NASUWT would
be disappointing. However, going along with a postponement to an unconfirmed
date would be worse.

Firstly, as
discussed above, it would be hard to honestly justify the postponement. The
confidence and expectations of teachers, raised up by the regional strikes,
would suffer, and doubts could set in about how serious the unions are in defending
teachers and education. This would make it harder, not easier, to build the next
action when it is called. Momentum would be lost and Gove would be able to gleefully
welcome the new-found ‘responsibility’ of the unions – while pushing ahead with
his attacks.

If a firm
date for a joint national strike were set for January, then, whilst there would
still be some hard questions to answer, at least members could see that there
were concrete plans made to continue the battle. However, if no firm January
date could be announced, then the NUT would have no choice but to continue with
the national strike that members are expecting in November. Such a decision
would maintain the campaign’s momentum, keep up the pressure on Gove and make
clear that the NUT is serious about fighting these attacks.

If the NUT
Executive has to reach this decision, unity between the NUT and NASUWT would
clearly have been temporarily broken but, on the ground in schools, I think
most NASUWT members would be asking questions of their leadership, not the
NUT’s. From those debates, and from joint meetings of NUT and NASUWT staff in
schools, we could still prepare for further joint action again in the New Year.
This might lay the basis for a more genuine unity, not one where it seems that
the NASUWT can have the final veto over plans for action.

Regrettably,
this post won’t come as a real surprise to many active NUT members who have
been following the debates within the Union over the last three years. It’s not
without good reason that, at the beginning of October, I submitted the
following warning in my election statement going out with the Vice-President
ballot papers next week: “I called for continued action on pensions in 2012.
Instead union hesitation encouraged Gove to attack pay. We have taken regional
action in 2013. Now a calendar of national strikes must follow. Further
hesitation would invite further attacks. Gove needs to know we are standing
firm”.

Let’s hope
that Friday’s NUT Executive can still send the message to Gove that we ARE
standing firm.

Martin Powell-Davies

* Brought up as a socialist by parents who hungered for what is right * One adopted grandfather left me a double-barrelled name, the other his name on a 1926 General Strike black-list * Joined the Labour Party as a teenager, left it when it abandoned the values and traditions of so many who built it in the past * Given a comprehensive education at St.Andrew's, Leatherhead * First-class degree from King's College, Cambridge, for those who like that kind of thing * Secondary science teacher in London 1986-2015 * Lewisham NUT Secretary 1993-2015, organiser of many campaigns to defend teachers and education * Living in Sydenham since 1997, father of four who were all so well-supported by Sedgehill School * Member of the NUT National Executive 2010-15 * NUT London Regional Secretary 2016 - * Proud to have been name-checked by Gove for saying that his 'reforms' could make teaching unbearable * Member of the CWI, following its global struggles via http://www.socialistworld.net * Candidate for TUSC in Lewisham West & Penge, 2015 * Member of Penge CC, often a 'Middle Aged Man In Lycra' on Sundays